We didn’t really have much dessert growing up.
Don’t get me wrong, we weren’t deprived during childhood. There were plenty of sweet treats in the form of chocolate bars (a lunchbox staple back in the day!) and of course birthday cakes. But things like pastries were most foreign.
With limited disposable income, the choice between spending $5 on something like this fruit tart which could feed one or on a supermarket mud cake which would last the family a week, it’s not hard to see why.
First week back at uni is never fun, starting from the waking up 5 hours earlier than normal to getting into bed at night and realising that you’ve barely done anything you’ve enjoyed the whole day. Working 9-5 hours 5 days a week this semester, I’ve been unexpectedly plunged into adult working life, and I’ve gotta say- it’s not fun!
With the current hot weather, I decided to take out the ice cream machine to make some ice cream the weekend before uni started. Billions of flavour ideas went through my head, but I ended up sticking with strawberry as they’re not always in season. As I’d made it before, I stuck to my old recipe with a little bit of tweaking but alas, the ice cream machine died on me some 20 minutes into churning.
The first time I made ice cream was about 5 years ago, when I browsed upon the “shakey shakey ice cream’ recipe on the abckids website which looked really fun to make. The idea was basically this- mix a couple of ingredients (basically just milk and sugar), put them into a ziplock bag, and then put that bag into a bigger ziplock bag filled with ice and shake until it becomes ice cream. Fun right?
Unfortunately, the ‘ice cream’ tasted like sweetened frozen milk more than ice cream and did not freeze completely, so it ended up in the bin and that was the last time I attempted to make my own ice cream again! We actually have an ice cream maker at home (and we’ve had it for quite a long time!) but my dad is usually the one who makes ice cream. Not that we have homemade ice cream often- the last time he ever made any ice cream was at least 5 years ago!!
With the warmer weather approaching, and the many tempting ice cream recipes I’ve seen on blogs, I thought it was about time I got the ice cream machine back out for a churn. I used a simple custard based recipe from a cookbook I’ve had on my shelf for a while, added some strawberries to the mixture (it’s our favourite homemade ice cream flavour so far!). It was actually surprisingly fun to watch the mixture slowly solidifying as it touched the edges of the freezer bowl and turning into ice cream. And almost impossible to resist sticking my finger in!!
Before long, I had a tub of delicious and creamy ice cream! The texture was softer and creamier than what I remember of my dad’s non-custard based ice cream. I especially loved the fresh strawberry taste which was nothing like the fake strawberry flavoured ice creams you get at the supermarket (I don’t like strawberry ‘flavoured’ things). And needless to say, it was quite addictive- just ask my sister, she couldn’t get enough of it! Now I know what I’ll be up to this summer 😉
Recipe adapted from Delicious Ice Cream
300ml milk
1 vanilla pod
4 large egg yolks
115g caster sugar
250g fresh strawberries
2 tablespoons lemon juice
300ml double cream
1. Pour the milk into a large heavy-based saucepan. Split open the vanilla pod and scrape out the seeds into the milk, then add the whole vanilla pod too. bring almost to boil, then remove from heat and leave to infuse for 30 minutes.
2. Put the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and whisk together until pale and mixture leaves a trail when the whisk is lifted. Remove the vanilla pod from the milk, then slowly add the milk into the egg mixture, stirring all the time with a wooden spoon. Strain the mixture into the rinsed-out saucepan or a double boiler and cook over a low heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring all the time, until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Do not allow the mixture to boil or it will curdle. Remove the custard from the heat and leave to cool for at least 1 hour, stirring from time to time to prevent a skin from forming.
3. Meanwhile, puree the strawberries with a blender or by pushing them through a sieve. Stir into the custard mixture with the lemon juice.
4. Whip the cream until it holds its shape.
5. If using an ice cream machine, fold the whipped cream into the cold custard, then churn the mixture in the machine following the manufacturers instructions. Alternatively, freeze the custard in a freezer container, uncovered, for 1-2 hours, or until it begins to set around the edges. Turn the custard into a bowl and stir with a fork or beat in a food processor until smooth. Fold in the whipped cream. Return to the freezer and freeze for a further 2-3 hours, or until firm or required. Cover the container with a lid for storing.
* I also added a little bit of alcohol (rum) into the mixture with the strawberries because I read somewhere that alcohol makes ice cream smoother.
